Coculture with embryonic stem cells improves neural differentiation of adipose tissue-derived stem cells

• Coculture with ES cells increased proliferation of the ADSCs.
• Expression of pluripotency markers in the ADSCs was increased by ES cell-coculture.
• Coculture with ES cells improved neural differentiation of the ADSCs.
• Coculture with ES cells may improve differentiation potential of adult stem cells.

Embryonic stem (ES) cells secrete some soluble factors which may affect the differentiation potential of adult stem cells toward different lineages. In the present study, we evaluated neural differentiation of mouse adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ADSCs) following coculture with ES cells. For this purpose, ADSCs were induced in a medium supplemented with a synthetic serum replacement and various concentrations of retinoic acid (RA). Then, third-passaged ADSCs were indirectly cocultured with ES cells, and the expression levels of pluripotency markers, OCT4 and Sox2, mesenchymal stem cell markers, CD73 and CD105, and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), were assessed in the cocultured ADSCs. Moreover, the control and cocultured ADSCs were differentiated with or without RA treatment. We showed here that 2-week differentiated ADSCs expressed several neuron-specific genes, and RA treatment improved neural differentiation of the ADSCs. The expression levels of OCT4, Sox2 and PCNA were upregulated in the cocultured ADSCs. Moreover, coculture with the ES cells significantly improved neural differentiation of the ADSCs. Treatment of the cocultured ADSCs with RA diminished the expression of neural maturation markers. Coculture with the ES cells efficiently improves neural differentiation of the ADSCs. Non-contact coculture with the ES cells may be used as an efficient strategy to improve differentiation potential of adult stem cells for developmental studies and regenerative medicine.